Principal's Message
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
School Athletics Sports
The highlight of this week has definitely been our two-day Athletics Sports held earlier this week, with the running events taking place at Pedrina Park on Tuesday followed by the field events at school on Wednesday. Our students were absolutely amazing across the two days of competition, not only running, jumping and throwing at their best, but also cheering and supporting all other competitors with great sportsmanship, and school spirit on display! The weather we had this year was vastly different to the extreme heat we experienced last year, however we were very fortunate in being able to proceed as normal with minimal rain encountered. It was fantastic to have so many parents, grandparents and family friends in attendance to support our superstar athletes – it certainly means a lot to the children. We also would like to thank the many parents who helped run activities, walk around with groups, set up or pack up – without your support these days would not be possible. Thanks also to Mr Watt for the wonderful job he did in organising the event along with staff for the various support roles they carried out.
Whilst the highlight for me is always the way in which the students participate and make improvements from year to year, it is also great to acknowledge the students who have excelled in the various disciplines. Today at our assembly we also acknowledged the various Age Group Champions – congratulations to each of these students on their achievements. It was great to once again welcome back former Principal Mr Jack Waldron to present the ‘Jack Waldron Shield’ to the winning House Team. The winners and placegetters for each of our Age Group Champions, along with the House Shield results, are included further in this newsletter.
District Athletics Sports
The annual Hamilton and District Sports Association (HDSA) Athletics Sports will take place on Thursday 23rd March, once again up at Pedrina Park. This event is held for children in the 9, 10, 11 and 12/13 year old age groups. Children will be selected to represent our school based on the results from our school Athletics Sports earlier this week, along with some trials that will be held for additional events such as Triple Jump. Mr Watt will be working through our results in the coming week with children to then be notified if they have qualified. Two children from each school may qualify for each event with children limited to compete in up to 5 individual, and 1 relay event.
School Council
Nominations for Parent Members on School Council were called on Friday 24th February and closed at 4:00pm last Friday, with three nominations received for the three vacancies. Therefore a ballot is not required and I can congratulate Anna Robertson and Russell Bennett on their re-election, along with Cecilia Fitzgerald who will be returning to School Council following a two year break. I thank Anna, Russell and Cecilia for making themselves available for this important aspect of school administration. I also like to congratulate and thank Miss Sophie Hannah on being elected to the vacant DET Member position for the next two years.
School Arrival Times
We would like to remind families that children are not to arrive at school before 8:35am as this is when staff are first on duty and we are not able to provide supervision for students before this time. Thank you for your assistance with this matter.
NAPLAN
Next week our students in grades 3 and 5 will be completing the annual NAPLAN assessments. Students will complete the writing assessment on Wednesday, Reading on Thursday, Language Convention (Grammar and Punctuation) on Friday and Numeracy on Monday of the following week with all assessments (except Year 3 Writing) to be completed online. Any children who are away will be expected to complete “catch-up” sessions over the following two-week period. NAPLAN had traditionally been completed in May but has been moved forward this year to March, the aim to make the data available for schools to review and use in a more timely manner. Staff have been giving students the opportunity to complete practice test sessions to help familiarise themselves with the testing format. We have also been reinforcing with students the importance of ‘giving their best’ however this assessment doesn’t define a student or their overall capabilities. This is one test, on one day, that gives us an overall indication how our school is progressing. Staff use a range of other assessments, over extended periods of time, that give us a much clearer picture of the great progress being made by all of our students.
The Resilience Project – Parent Presentation
This year we have continued our involvement with ‘The Resilience Project’ through our classroom curriculum delivery to address positive education approaches and to also support students with their social, emotional and mental health development. The students really enjoy the classroom lessons and activities delivered through this program and next Wednesday night an online ‘Parent Information Session’ is being provided with the content of this opportunity summarised below:
Parents and Carers are invited to register for The Resilience Project’s Parent & Community presentation (with other schools) on Wednesday 15th March from 6:30pm - 8:00pm (90 minutes) AEDT. This will be presented by Martin Hempel and the TRP team.
Please register by the link below:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tWLlDrq3QbmIOzKvO5-SpA
Upon registration, registrants will receive a link to attend the webinar, along with a reminder the day prior.
Arts Festival Night
Preparations are well underway for our Arts Festival Night on Thursday 30th March. This event is returning after a break due to COVID and Ms Brown is busily preparing for the return, open to all current students and their families. There will be a range of different art stalls, activities and demonstrations that will be available for students to come along and try, and put their creative talents on display. We hope that once again we have a large number of attendees on the night, that is sure to be a lot of fun!
School Review – Parent Feedback
As previously advised our School Review will be taking place in term 2. This important process of school governance takes place every four years where schools are required to highlight our successes, identify areas where targets may not have been met and possible reasons why, but most importantly set our directions for the next four years. As a part of this process we seek the feedback of our families on any perceived highlights over the past four years (or one year if you are new to the school) and also any suggestions you may have for future improvement. I have developed a quick survey (up to five questions) that I hope families can take a few short minutes to respond and provide your thoughts.
https://s.surveyplanet.com/k3pwnkde
‘Lone Pine’ Presentation
Next Wednesday we will be holding a special ceremony, taking place at the front of the school at 1:30pm, for the receival of a ‘Lone Pine’ seedling. This is part of an application made by Mrs Harms last year where our school has been selected to receive one of these seedlings, grown from a cone from the Loan Pine that made its way back to Australia after WWI. Please see the Environmental News report in this newsletter for further information about this ceremony.
Hockey Clinics
Earlier today our students in the grade 1/2 and grade 3/4 classes were given the opportunity to participate in an introduction to hockey clinic that were facilitated here at school. We are very fortunate in Hamilton to have access to a wide range of sporting opportunities with hockey being a very popular local sport. Thanks to one of our parents, Laura Reid, for delivering these clinics on behalf of Hockey Victoria.
Labour Day Public Holiday
A reminder that Monday is the Labour Day public holiday and our school will be closed but we look forward to having all students return on Tuesday refreshed and ready for a new week of learning and great achievements.
Have a great weekend.
Ben Kelson
Principal